Hi everyone. We are Beatrice, who leads on Mencap’s policy work around employment and Paul, who supports people with a learning disability to find employment.

Together we are here to answer your questions around employment for people with a learning disability.

As you may know, Mencap has a clear vision about employment for people with a learning disability. We believe that everyone has a right and should have the opportunity work, and we want to see a future where people with a learning disability are receiving the right support to access and stay in work. That’s why Mencap provides its own employment services, through which an individual will receive support in the following areas:

Pre-employment support

Work trials and placements

Job coaching and in-work support

Employer support

However, we don’t think there is enough support for people with a learning disability out there to help them find employment. And we also don’t think that all the support out there is suitable to people with a learning disability.

Please get in touch to tell us about your experience with trying to support your loved one to find employment, or to ask us any questions you may have in relation to this.

My daughter has a learning disability and has just finished college. She’s craving independence and is really keen to get a paid job. Where can we go to get help to find her a job she will enjoy? I’m not sure where to start!

Thanks for getting in touch. It is really good to hear that your daughter is keen to get a paid job. We hear from many people with a learning disability that one of their top priorities is to get into paid employment, as it enables independence, both financially and socially. This is why Mencap is doing a lot of work on this issue, and why we have decided to focus on employment for Learning Disability Week 2017.

There are a number of places your daughter and you can try to get help to find a job. What is available to some extent depends on the area you live in.

1) The local job centre

The local job centre is one of the first points of call. The job centre can put you in touch with a Disability Employment Adviser, who is specialised to help disabled people in their search for work. They can:

Do an employment assessment to identify what type of work or training suits your daughter best

Give your daughter a referral to a work programme for disabled people, like Work Choice or Access to Work

Give her a referral, if needed, to an Work Psychologist for a more detailed employment assessment to identify the best work or training for her

Provide a job-matching and referral service - the DEA should be able to let you know about jobs that match your daughter’s experience and skills

Give information on employers in your area who have adopted the ‘two ticks’ disability symbol.

2) Local authority

Many, not all, local authorities support a number of local employment projects or provide/ finance employment support opportunities for local disabled people in their area. You can try to get in touch with the local authority directly to find out what they offer. Some of them have employment programmes directly aimed at people with a learning disability. Whether or not there are eligibility criteria that your daughter would need to fulfil, is locally determined.

3) Local charities

It is probably also worthwhile to go on the internet and search for employment support in your local area. There are a number of charities that provide support, such as Mencap, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Hi Beatrice and Paul, I have a son currently at college, the course is built round what he wants to do. He wants to do farming but I am worried that as he has no family connection to any farmers and we don’t know any he will struggle to find work, he also has some balance issues, he wants to work with animals. I am now thinking for next year that he may be better studying catering as there may be more job opportunities in this line of work. I need to speak to someone what is best for him and what type of voluntary work he could do which would help him for the future. I have tried the college but they just seem to agree with what I say and don’t really advise further. Any ideas who I should speak to please? was going to put more but I think I’ve reached my quota on words on here! Thanks in advance

Thank you for your question and sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We are in the middle of writing up some hopefully helpful tips, but we just wanted to ask, where abouts are you based in the country? If you’re able to tell us which county you’re in we’ll be able to offer more specific suggestions. No problem if you’d rather not say, though.

It’s great that your son has an idea of what he wants to do work wise and we appreciate that the farming industry might be tough to break into initially. It might be worth looking at local animal shelters, stables just to provide that experience which would look great on his CV. Most areas have a CVS (Community and Voluntary Service) which is a great way to find out what voluntary opportunities are available in your area and can help develop work related skills on your sons journey to employment. Here is the contact number for Nottingham CVS - 0115 934 8400.

Having a discussion with your son about broadening his horizons regarding different employment opportunities can be really beneficial. Especially if that conversation focuses on the skills he has developed as it might help guide the conversation to other forms of work. This is something many of our employment services do in their workshops, highlighting which areas of work certain skills can be utilized helps open up a whole new world of opportunities.

Regarding your son’s balance issues, an employer should provide what we call “reasonable adjustments” for an employee. These are simple, mostly inexpensive changes an employer can make to accommodate your son’s needs. It can be something as simple as leaving the handling of large loads to another employee (if this is something your son might have difficulties with).

If you would like to speak to someone, get in touch with David Goold. He is the coordinator for the Employ Me services, and he is currently working with the job centres in the Nottingham area. He may be able to offer some advice and support. You can reach him on 07983 491869.